Author Archives: Christene

Photo Journal

Today was relaxing. I did almost nothing while simultaneously doing a lot. I am savvy like that.As a consequence of my busy nothingness I am pretty tired, so this is not so much a real blog post as a photo journal of my day. I will let you draw your own conclusions.

I took my mom and the kids to the beach. Unlike last time, this time we went into the water.

I take every opportunity to hide my creepy little feet.
My mother taking Ally into the water.
Then I went to dinner with my friend. I had her take a picture of me since she is better suited to do so than my own self portrait attempts which either turn out skewed or require a mirror and serious acrobatics.
The beach was relaxing. Dinner was insightful. I had a good day.

A Short Story

My friend sent me a link to a short story contest. Since I don’t have enough to do, I thought it would be fun to enter. The contest is simple enough, write a short story. However, the story has to be 100 words or less. I didn’t realize how difficult that would be until I tried doing it.

At first I wanted to get a very brief beginning middle and end of some kind. But for me, storytelling is in the details, and this format did not allow for that. So I wrote a vignette of sorts. It is not a story, hardly any plot, but rather a glimpse.

I can’t post it here since that would disqualify me from the contest, even though I don’t think they would ever find out. The contest will be over in a few weeks, and since I don’t expect to win I will be able to post it then.

In the meantime, here are some comments Sean made after he read it:

“you’re dealing with really strong, concrete sensory details.”

He also suggested I give him ” an action that’s become a tableau vivant perceived through the narrow aperture of memory.”

I edited it a few times, and I think I intensified the moment, but the word constraint makes it difficult to delve into too much detail. I am not allotted the use of enough adjectives unless the entire (very short) piece is nothing more than a string of adjectives laced together to (re)create the moment. I actually kind of think that would be an interesting experiment with words, but for now I will simply experiment with word economy.

 

Solvang

Ally and I had a mother-daughter day in Solvang. Nothing terribly exciting happened, we just had lunch, walked around, saw things, and came home. The usual sort of thing.

The drive out there was beautiful.
Ally next to the Welcome sign.
We found a cute little bistro to have lunch. Ally had her first soda ever.
Some scenery around where we sat.
We walked around some.
Yes, Tanya, they have a giant knitting shop. Ally and I thought of you.
They also have a giant bakery that houses deliciousness inside. I don’t know why I didn’t think to take a picture of that. But it is there.
Tomorrow I shall chronicle either the time I spend with my son during the day, or dinner I am having with a friend. If I am feeling particularly feisty, I might do both.
In the meantime, I have a short story to edit.